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by solve 4143 days ago
YC interviewers say yes. Some have directly told me that they use this equation when judging applications:

impressiveness = achievements / age

Now that YC has tried to tackle the race and gender concerns, I really hope that ageism is next. They can start by switching the age application question to just an "over 18?" checkbox.
1 comments
vidarh 4143 days ago
As someone who is 39, why is "impressiveness = achievements / age" a problem in your eyes?

Looking back at my own life, pretty much all my worthwhile achievements has come after 20, and according to that formula I'd come out very favourable against 20-25 years olds like myself.

That formula is pretty much just saying that they expect people to have more achievements the older they are, which does not seem unreasonable to me.

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solve 4143 days ago
No one has ever said "that's incredible for a 40 year old".

Only the young get benefit from this equation. I would bet that your achievements would not be considered great by someone who uses this equation, no matter how great they are.

The somewhat misquoted phrase that's attributed to the Alibaba CEO describes the spirit of people who use this type of thinking better than my equation will:

"If you're not rich at 35, you deserve it!"

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vidarh 4134 days ago
No one says "that's incredible for a 40 year old" because a 40 year old is expected to have had time enough that we don't need the qualifier of age.

In part because the world is full of examples of 40 year olds being successful, but despite the Silicon Valley bias, impressive 20-year olds or 25-year olds (or even 30-year olds) with big achievements are extreme outliers.

Even in the startup world.

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